Search age:

Search in:

Should meetings be a walk in the park?

How can we find ways of working that allow us to sit less and still do the job?

Now that we’ve kicked cigarettes out of the workplace, the next challenge is tackling that other major lifestyle threat to our health – the physical inertia that’s become such a big part of the working day. While we can control couch time at home, the office is a different story – how can we find ways of working that allow us to sit less and still do the job?

Rachel Mulqueeney’s new routine in her office at Cancer Council Victoria is pointing the way. Thanks to a height-adjustable desk, she now stands up for part of her working day and when she schedules meetings, they’re frequently in rooms equipped with more of these desks that allow people to stand and take notes instead of sitting down. If there’s no standing meeting room available, she’ll often organise a walking meeting in nearby Carlton Park instead.

We’ve had some people in human resources say ‘but we can’t have people standing up all the time because it interrupts productivity’,

“As long as the group is small and the weather’s fine, walking meetings work really well - although it helps to have a scribe who’s good at walking and writing at the same time,” says Mulqueeney who’s part of a pilot program at Cancer Council Victoria that’s trying to put more physical activity into the working day.

“With standing meeting rooms, it can be a little tricky to get the height of the desks right when there’s a big difference in heights of people at the meeting. But most people like the option of standing because they’ve been sitting for most of the day.”

Advertisement

Mulqueeney is part of a movement that’s going beyond the usual ‘take the stairs instead of the lift’ tips for workers. Instead, it’s targeting the top, urging employers to make changes that let sedentary workers be more physically active. In its Healthy Workplace Guide, for instance, the Cancer Council NSW suggests that employers offer flexible work hours to help employees fit physical activity into their day, that they support physical activity breaks like stretching or short walks and provide secure bike storage for people who want to cycle to work.

Flexible dress codes make sense too. Biking to work with a business suit stuffed in a pack isn’t practical so it helps if workers can wear smart casual on days where suits aren’t strictly necessary, says Chris Tzar of Exercise is Medicine Australia which has producedPhysical Activity in the Workplace, a new guide with a range of ideas that employers can use to get their staff moving more.

Based on the evidence that breaking up long periods of sitting may help cut the risk of heart disease and diabetes, this guide recommends employees stand up for two minutes every half an hour if they can - or for two to four minutes every hour.

These breaks can still be work-related, says Tzar. They can be used to discuss something with a colleague, for example, or to stand up and make a phone call – introducing extra long phone cords can make this easier.

“We’ve had some people in human resources say ‘but we can’t have people standing up all the time because it interrupts productivity’,” he adds. “That’s when I say ‘so your employees are entitled to a smoking break- but you’re saying they can’t get up and do something healthy.’ The irony is that they have a policy that actually promotes unhealthy behaviour.”

What’s more likely to affect productivity, says Tzar, is ‘presenteeism,’ meaning the loss of productivity that comes from people who turn up for work but don’t function well because of illness or injury.

“We talk a lot about absenteeism, but more work performance is lost from presenteeism – it’s estimated to cost $26 billion a year in lost productivity. Three of the four major causes of presenteesim are depression, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes - physical activity can help treat all three.”

Another way to get moving more is to join forces with co-workers and train for an event like a fun run, swim or community walk together. To find one in your area, check out the Physical Activity Calendar of Events (PACE) on the Exercise is Medicine website.

Is your workplace making it easier for you to sit less?

7 comments so far

I have had back issues for years. This week saw a chiropractor Monday and still in pain. Sitting at a desk all day every day is most likely the cause. Anything that gets people moving can only help.

Commenter

Dom Archie

Location

Archieville

Date and time

November 21, 2012, 8:40AM

Excellent idea. I've been sitting down an awful lot the last 6 months and I can really feel it in my hips. I always stand up on the trains, to give them a break, but it would be good to stand up more during the day.

It's not just work either. I am so tired of friends _always_ suggesting dinner when I say "let's catch up". It's expensive, I could often cook just as well at home, and it means more sitting. I keep trying to suggest walks or visits to a museum/art gallery but only one friend regularly takes the walk option, and she was already a keen bushwalker. Maybe I need to use a carrot and stick approach: yes, I'll try out that cafe in the next suburb but only if we walk to it.

Commenter

photondancer

Date and time

November 21, 2012, 11:48AM

I used to be a part of a management team of 3 persons that, by chance, all chose to cycle to work. Whenever we had an external meeting, the three of us would zoom off on our bicycles, getting some exercise and setting a great example to the rest of the team at work. The office also supported a more 'environment-friendly' atmosphere by subsidizing public transport (reimbursing monthly bus/train tickets) or cycling (an allowance based on distance traveled by bicycle) but no reimbursement for cars (i.e. no petrol or parking allowances). It's not so hard!

Commenter

MSB

Date and time

November 21, 2012, 11:23PM

Give people long enough breaks to actually get something to eat and go for a walk. Most people are not executives with flexible working arrangements who can take long breaks and most people often only get 1/2 which will allow them to prepare their lunch, eat it, re-do their makeup make themselves look nicer and then back to work.

Give them an hour and encourage a walk and actual break.

Commenter

Me

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 6:51AM

Like the idea but we are in Docklands.No parkland to walk in (footpaths are too noisy for proper discussion) and winds are too high to track meetings with paper. Tablets arriving just in time I gues?

Commenter

Martin

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

November 22, 2012, 9:21AM

Myself and two other colleagues created standup desks for our college office about 6 months ago. It not only promotes a healthy approach to work but is great for incorporating stretching into your day. For some reason, standing makes me a lot more conscious of my posture and how my body is feeling from an energy point of view. I can then feed my body the energy it requires to maintain high-level productivity. Fortunately, I live and work at Byron Bay and the view out my window is just another reason why standing is a winner for sure!

Commenter

David

Date and time

November 25, 2012, 1:33PM

My boss recently rearranged her workstation so she could stand up at her computer. She was then she wasn't allowed to do that and had to sit at her desk because her standing setup wasn't OH&S compliant.